Yet Another Deepavali

For me of late, Deepavali is more of a cultural event than a religious one just like Christmas or Ramzan, and this is a phenomenon unique to India. Been missing out on the crackers thing more out of laziness than the lack of interest in it. There's a child in everyone of us and the spoilt little brat is alive and kicking in me. However, no crackers this time around too, for the same reason. Usually, the food and the TV programmes make up for it. Though the food part was taken care of this year, the latter was a big let down. I suffered from a severe case of Vijay-sickness, caused by an OD of Vijay's image-boosting rubbish shown on every channel from Sun TV to SS Music. This, even considering that i managed to change the channel as soon as Ilayathalavali and his fans' faces were shown. Every Diwali has its share of stars' films hitting the silver screen but this year i can't understand the deluge of Vijay mania. On a lesser scale, we had a procession of Chiyaan's chair-turning interviews and fan-calls. The only interviews i could bear to watch were of Surya and even in the few minutes of the interviews i watched, he mentioned Kamal Haasan more than once, and importantly, not just in the diplomatic way, as other actors do.

Just when i was into Ilaiyaraaja's concert on TV, i was invited for lunch at my relative's place as it was my cousin's thalai-Deepavali. My folks had promised my uncle that i would be having lunch with them when i was not there. Thank god it was just a lunch and not any commitment about my marriage!
If missing the concert for the 10 minutes of lunch was not enough, my cousin's family were so engrossed in watching Padayappa, that no conversation existed, and needless to say, for all it mattered, my presence or absence wouldn't have mattered till the ad-break came. My inconspicuous presence was actually to my advantage. However, Padayappa [poor Sivaji Ganesan!] was driving me nuts. Imagine, choosing Padayappa over Ilaiyaraaja's concert with Kamal Sir present. That, for me, was The Ultimate. Not having even an iota of diplomatic pleasantness in me, i was afraid i would exhibit the displeasure at being insulted in this manner till an idea struck me. I messaged a friend to call me in exactly 3 minutes, and started downing my lunch as though i hadn't tasted food for a week. The 3 minutes were critical because not only was Kamal Sir scheduled to make his entry in the concert and sitting through Padayappa at such a juncture was the ultimate insult, but also that i had to avoid the "scene" i would create were i to finish my lunch, was my hands and leave right away. Thankfully, the plan worked to perfection. The call came just when i washed my hands, and i was speaking as though it was an important official call and the signal was not clear inside the house. Not only did i manage a "graceful exit" [in geek-speak], i also managed not to miss thalaivar on TV. Sometimes you need all the luck to counter your Murphian bad luck!